From the time that languages came into being, till date there is no ONE common language around the world that is understood by all..

Every country, region has its own language which brings along with it communication barriers..

These communication barriers affect maritime industry as well, as there are seafarers of different nationalities involved in the trade.. Different nationalities obviously means different languages and there could be these language barriers when communicating between ships..

Majority of the seafarers come from countries like Philippines, Indonesia, China, Russia, Turkey, India, USA, Japan, Korea, Canada and Malaysia.. Most of these countries are Non-Native English speaking countries so one can imagine the gap in communication between ships..

The International Code of Signals (ICS) was created to overcome these language barriers and allow ships to communicate with each other especially in situations relating to safety of navigation and people..

The International Code of Signals is an international system of signals and codes used by ships to communicate short but important message between themselves..